What martial art should I learn?

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

Top five guys you couldn't pay me enough money to face in the Octagon:

1. Kevin Randleman. Full of roid rage and ready to pick you up and slam you on your neck.
2. Keith Hackney (under old rules). He'll make sure you never have children.
3. Mirko Cro Cop. Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery.
4. Anderson Silva. At least when you're on the phone after the fight with your plastic surgeon making an appointment for a rhinoplasty, Anderson will come over and say he's sorry.
5. Wanderlei Silva. The staredown and glove thing he does from across the cage is enough to make you want to run and hide.


so, you would get into the octogon with somebody else?

 

[mizanation]

i wonder what happened to the original poster. maybe he found what he was looking for.

 

[TheIdler]

Hey, I'm still here. I don't have much to add to your guys' discussion at this point, but I am following it with interest. I've checked out two different judo schools and may end up going to one of those. I think the discussion here has kind of discouraged me from Aikido, but I am going to a class this weekend to see for myself. Thanks again to everybody who offered advice.

 

[mizanation]

when picking judo schools, it helps if a good portion of the students compete actively. if you have an olympian or national team member or two, that's even better. i think you'll be able to tell if they are doing the real thing or not.

a real judo school almost always has the following elements:

uchikomi drill work--this is repeatedly practicing the entering techniques of a throw

randori--this is free "sparring" where you actually work against a resisting opponent

newaza--"ground techniques." most judo schools use the final half or quarter of the class for newaza. this includes working against a fully resisting opponent. if this is not happening, it's not judo.

 

[imightbechad]

miz,

don't mean to beat a dead horse (or reply so late), but i guess the point of my aikido post got lost in translation.

i did not mean to imply, by calling aikido "as powerful as" other styles, that it is in any way capable of being as violently successful as whatever style you promote.

i was merely speaking to the simple "power" of aikido as a form of martial art. no blind worship here. i'm also not sure what you mean by evidence, but i've seen the ueshiba videos and they are hilarious.

we can agree that if someone were to step into one of these octagons with only aikido training in his/her pocket...well, it would be a blood bath, without a doubt.

but i think a lot of these comparisons center on an "who would beat who's ass in a dark alley" kind of logic. perhaps that's a valid comparison, but it seems like apples and oranges to me.

as i see it, aikido is a more focused "art form," but i would hold that it has the potential in its physics to create as much power as any martial art.

and i know that i would hate to be the "resisting opponent" to someone like yamada sensei in any forum.

blech,

chad

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by mizanation

let's just say getting fucked up by rampage would be a LOT more painful than anderson silva.

Not for me. See, that would be true if you could put up any sort of resistance. I would go down with the first shot. It's pretty much guaranteed. I'm just trying to figure out who has a more damaging first shot. The second, third, n-th shot really isn't an issue for me

 

[johnapril]

Originally Posted by TheIdler

I've been considering taking up a martial art. Do you have any recommendations on how to choose one that might be right for me? Self-defense is important, but I'm also attracted by the idea of mental discipline and learning a more traditional system, maybe even some meditation. I want a competitive sport, but I'm in my mid-thirties, so minimizing injury risk would be cool. What do you guys think?

Not sure where you are with this question, but my experience in the US has been meditation and martial arts live on different planets. If you're in the US, you'll need to interview the instructors pretty thoroughly and explicitly regarding your interest in the two things and see whether their system accomodates both. For meditation, the most rigorous is vipassana. You'll likely benefit from an intensive course, at least 3 months someplace away from your regular life, or a 10-day intensive if you can't spare the time. I've heard good things about those 10-day sits. I know about a couple of places in California for that if interested.

 

[Eason]

You guys are off your heads- the last guy I'd want to fight is Ricardo Arona He'll take you down and lay on you for 20 minutes while cutting you, putting his fingers in you.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Eason

You guys are off your heads- the last guy I'd want to fight is Ricardo Arona He'll take you down and lay on you for 20 minutes while cutting you, putting his fingers in you.

We are talking about fighting here, right? This sounds very ****-erotic.

 

[Eason]

He kissed me on the lips like a homosexual! I'm not a homosexual!

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Eason

He kissed me on the lips like a homosexual! I'm not a homosexual!
Where was he putting his fingers at the time?

 

[emptym]

sorry to bring this old post up, but I just read the whole thread w/ interest and thought I had a few things to contribute.

There has been a lot of debate about the relationship between spirituality and fighting. A concrete aspect of this has been the debate about the self-defense worthiness of "softer" styles like Aikido and Tai Chi.

As a kid I was taught that there is a natural progression in martial arts from harder styles to softer. This corresponds to a natural progression within the human person from desiring to "kick butt" to desiring to make friends.

Because of this, I think the ideal situation is for a person to start with a hard martial art like Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing, or Jujitsu. Then one can progress to softer styles like Aikido. Soft styles are advanced; when done by the right people, they can be very effective. But if one tries to skip straight to a soft style, the likelihood is that one will not understand the physical and spiritual dynamics of human conflict.

Interestingly, in my limited experience, many styles seem to begin with hard techniques and progress to softer ones. But there is no skipping. Watch the progression of forms in TKD, Shotokan, etc. and you may notice that beginner ones have very linear movements and the advanced ones, more circular motions. In sparring, white belts need to make fists so that they won't break their fingers, but black belts can fight with open hands, because their motions are softer and more circular -- and they know exactly if/when they need to make a fist. In escrima/arnis, the progression is seen in how one moves from fighting with hard-hitting sticks and thrusting knives to bare hands and softer circles. Thus, in a way, one needn't switch martial arts, but rather devote oneself to one art.

Along with this progression from hard, linear motions to soft, circular ones, there is a progression, hopefully, within the person from the desire to kick butt, to the desire to make friends. The "martial" effectiveness in the latter is highlighted by Abe Lincoln, who said, "Am I not destroying my enemy by making him my friend?"

Beginners want to beat people up, but eventually, even the best fighers lose, and they see the harm they cause and it causes them to feel remorse. (Some are better at avoiding this remorse than others, but it gets everyone eventually.) Good fighters win fights with punches, kicks, breaks, etc. Better ones win with impressive blocks, redirections of the other's energy, etc. Better still are those who can win with a look or a word. But the best, imo, is when one can turn one's enemy into one's friend. Is this not a "martial" skill?

My concrete, practical advice to a beginner would be to find a school that teaches a hard style where the instructors are knowledgeable and humble (ie, they don't need to prove themselves against you, a beginner) and where the students treat each other well and win tournaments. Go to a place that trains for tournaments. Competition is good for physical and spiritual skills (job interviews, basketball games, etc. are stressful, but not as stressful as an event where you know your opponent will try to kick you in the head. It puts things in perspective). Eventually, after 4-5 yrs (5-10 hrs a week) in a good place, if you aren't being taught or discovering softer techniques on your own, look for a good soft school.

In sum: All martial arts are good, they're good at different things, and there is a natural progression from hard to soft, that can't be skipped. Good luck!

 

[Eason]

Or, you can try Systema, where you practice getting stepped on and play medicine dodgeball.

 

[whacked]

Originally Posted by emptym

sorry to bring this old post up, but I just read the whole thread w/ interest and thought I had a few things to contribute.

There has been a lot of debate about the relationship between spirituality and fighting. A concrete aspect of this has been the debate about the self-defense worthiness of "softer" styles like Aikido and Tai Chi.

As a kid I was taught that there is a natural progression in martial arts from harder styles to softer. This corresponds to a natural progression within the human person from desiring to "kick butt" to desiring to make friends.

Because of this, I think the ideal situation is for a person to start with a hard martial art like Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing, or Jujitsu. Then one can progress to softer styles like Aikido. Soft styles are advanced; when done by the right people, they can be very effective. But if one tries to skip straight to a soft style, the likelihood is that one will not understand the physical and spiritual dynamics of human conflict.

Interestingly, in my limited experience, many styles seem to begin with hard techniques and progress to softer ones. But there is no skipping. Watch the progression of forms in TKD, Shotokan, etc. and you may notice that beginner ones have very linear movements and the advanced ones, more circular motions. In sparring, white belts need to make fists so that they won't break their fingers, but black belts can fight with open hands, because their motions are softer and more circular -- and they know exactly if/when they need to make a fist. In escrima/arnis, the progression is seen in how one moves from fighting with hard-hitting sticks and thrusting knives to bare hands and softer circles. Thus, in a way, one needn't switch martial arts, but rather devote oneself to one art.

Along with this progression from hard, linear motions to soft, circular ones, there is a progression, hopefully, within the person from the desire to kick butt, to the desire to make friends. The "martial" effectiveness in the latter is highlighted by Abe Lincoln, who said, "Am I not destroying my enemy by making him my friend?"

Beginners want to beat people up, but eventually, even the best fighers lose, and they see the harm they cause and it causes them to feel remorse. (Some are better at avoiding this remorse than others, but it gets everyone eventually.) Good fighters win fights with punches, kicks, breaks, etc. Better ones win with impressive blocks, redirections of the other's energy, etc. Better still are those who can win with a look or a word. But the best, imo, is when one can turn one's enemy into one's friend. Is this not a "martial" skill?

My concrete, practical advice to a beginner would be to find a school that teaches a hard style where the instructors are knowledgeable and humble (ie, they don't need to prove themselves against you, a beginner) and where the students treat each other well and win tournaments. Go to a place that trains for tournaments. Competition is good for physical and spiritual skills (job interviews, basketball games, etc. are stressful, but not as stressful as an event where you know your opponent will try to kick you in the head. It puts things in perspective). Eventually, after 4-5 yrs (5-10 hrs a week) in a good place, if you aren't being taught or discovering softer techniques on your own, look for a good soft school.

In sum: All martial arts are good, they're good at different things, and there is a natural progression from hard to soft, that can't be skipped. Good luck!

Best. Necropost. Ever.

 

[cloudhands69]

I agree. Great post egyptm.
I practiced yuan tai chi for a few years, but have fallen off my practice in the last year or so. I practiced with a genuine tai chi master and I can tell you that he had some serious ******* kung fu.
I think the one of the most important things to look for in a school is confidence & humility of the instructors and senior students.